19 February 2010

Book Review: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Title:  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Author: Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Published:  2009  Pages:  274
Genre: Epistolary

Buy  |  Borrow  |  Accept  |  Avoid

Plot Synopsis
Juliet Ashton, writer, meets the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society after one of its members finds her address in a Charles Lamb book.  Through this eclectic group of people, Juliet learns of the German occupation of Guernsey and discovers a group of people as quirky as herself.

My Thoughts
This is my second vacation book, and just like the first - Fingersmith - I adored it.  The unusual characters, the moving history of the island, and the wonderful way with words these letter-writers have kept me turning the page...and ignoring the rest of my family who thought this was to be a more social vacation. :)

Epistolary novels are new to me; I've never ignored them, but I've never sought them out.  I assumed that reading a collection of letters would be overly disjointed, fragmented, nothing but glimpses into the lives of the characters that when put together do not tell a story, but rather offer some sort of touchy-feely-idea of who they are, an abstract universal truth instead of an actual plot.  I was pleasantly surprised that this was not the case.

At first, I had a bit of difficulty getting into the story.  With no exposition, the novel jumps in with letters not designed to introduce the characters but to start the conflict.  In other words, I had no idea who was who or what was what.  When I stopped trying to figure everything out though, it all came quite easily, and I was quickly immersed in the little intrigues of Juliet and her correspondence partners.

Memorable Quote:  My neighbor Evangeline Smythe is going to have twins in June.  She is none too happy about it, so I am going to ask her to give one of them to me.  This is one of many little quirky comments Juliet makes that make me think she would be a fun friend.

Icing on the Cake:
Positive portrayal of homosexuality
Strong female characters

Other Reviews
If I've missed yours, let me know!

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Challenges: Women UnBound, 100+ Reading Challenge, Reading Resolutions, Take Another Chance
Posted by Trisha at 7:52 AM
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8 comments:

  1. I loved this on audiobook. I wanted to crawl into the story and live there. On audio, each character was narrated by a different person, which worked well. It did take me about the first disc to get into the swing of the story, but once I did it was very smooth. When I finished I felt flushed and in love. One of the top reads for me last year!
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  2. I reviewed this last year and loved it. I thought it was fantastic, but I agree it can be tough to get into if you haven't read novels in letters before.
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  3. It's sitting right here on my shelf, waiting to be read. By the time I get to it I may be the last blogger to read it!
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  4. This sounds really good, though I can see that the epistolary format could take some getting used to. Juliet sounds like a memorable character.
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  5. Somehow I missed out on reading this one when it made the rounds. There was just something about it that didn't make me want to runout and pick it up. But I think you may have just changed my mind and I love that you mentioned the there is a positive portrayal of gay characters in the novel. I love that!
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  6. I loved this book! If you didn't read it, you might like my review ... I wrote it in epistolary form!
    Here is the link:

    http://www.findyournextbookhere.com/2010/02/review-of-sorts-of-that-guernsey-potato.html
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  7. Sandy - Yes! I wanted to "crawl into the story and live there" too!

    Serena - It's a new form for me, but now I can't wait to explore another.

    Stacy - Don't feel bad. I often feel like the last blogger to read a book.

    Stephanie - So many of these characters are unforgettable!

    Nicole - You definitely should give it a try. The characters are just so wonderfully rich and believable.

    Jenners - I can't believe I forgot yours! Don't worry, I'll put myself on a five minute time out right after posting this. :)
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  8. I loved this book too, especially how it takes a light-hearted approach to writing about WWII but doesn't sugar-coat the terrible things that happened. And I loved the epistolary format. Made me wish letter-writing was still in vogue.

    I hope it's okay that I linked to your review on the Book Reviews: WWII page on War Through the Generations.

    --Anna
    Diary of an Eccentric
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